The present invention relates to a new and improved method and new and improved construction of equipment for securely and conveniently inputting of control commands, particularly into elevator installations.
In its more particular aspects, the present invention specifically relates to a new and improved method and construction of equipment for securely and conveniently inputting control commands, particularly into elevator installations. Therein, control commands are input at a portable wireless transmitter and transmitted thereby as encoded control signals which are received by a stationary receiver. After decoding, the signals are supplied to a control. The recordial and execution of these control commands at the control end is signalled.
Such method is intended to permit inputting control commands into a control without using location-bound command transmitters. Calls to secure or protected storys or floors as well as normal calls without the use of story or cabin call keys thus can be input into elevator installations independent of the location from the closer neighborhood of an elevator.
During conventional operation of a control, the input of the control commands is often bound to mechanical command transmitters and thus dependent on their location. This can impair the operating convenience and renders more difficult using the control for security purposes. An input of the control commands, which is independent of location and gives freedom of movement, for example, by means of wireless remote control, is therefore desirable in many cases.
In a method and equipment for private or solely authorized operation of an elevator such as known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,324, granted Apr. 7, 1987 and the cognate German Published patent application No. 3,631,179, published Mar. 26, 1987, a wireless transmitter, a receiver as well as a cabin control installation are provided and interact in the afore-described manner. A passenger inputs a cabin call or another cabin request by actuating a (manually) portable, wireless concealable transmitter having one or more keys which designate a respective story or floor and can be used in combination in order to obtain access to a secure story or floor or to instruct other functions like, for example, emergency stops or silent emergency calls. The passenger carries the remote control transmitter, for example, in a clothing pocket, and inputs a call, for example, for normal purposes, for security purposes or any other function by actuating the respective keys. A receiving aerial or sensor is provided in the cabin and receives the transmitted command which, in turn, is transmitted to the cabin control much in the same manner as if directly input at the cabin keys. Depending on the inputted command the cabin control can light up a button at the cabin operating panel and thus acknowledge the inputted command in accordance with the mode of operation corresponding to the inputted command.
One disadvantage of this method results from the circumstance that the portable transmitter acts unidirectionally on the stationary receiver and, accordingly, no connection exists in the reverse direction. Therefore, signal transmission from the control to the portable transmitter is impossible, in order to privately acknowledge the recordal of a call by indication on the portable transmitter, for example, in elevator installations. Consequently, the acknowledgement of calls must be effected at the cabin panel and thus in a public manner and one which is visible to everybody, whereby a secure elevator operation may be impaired.
It has also proved to be disadvantageous that there is no possibility of storing more frequently used control commands in the portable transmitter in order that they can be directly transmitted, if desired, by means of, for example, fixed keys. Control commands must thus be input particularly when the same control command must be used several times per day.
It is a further disadvantage that no automatic system is provided for privately operating the elevator in the method according to the afore-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,324. In fact, each control command must be individually and manually inputted at the portable transmitter whereupon the control command is transmitted either immediately or after a preset time delay. Particularly in hotel elevators however, it can be advantageous if the control commands are automatically and permanently transmitted so that a hotel guest can reach his story or floor and room without manipulation and according to any desired time schedule. The manual as well as the automatic but temporally fixed command input reduce the operating convenience, since they force the hotel guest to put down and again pick up his luggage or to move according to a predetermined time schedule.
A still further basic deficiency must be seen in that the aforementioned known method does not permit programming and its operating parameters and characteristic magnitudes thus cannot be easily and rapidly varied. Such method, therefore, has very little flexibility and is poorly adapted to security-technical use if a security arrangement like, for example, the locking or closing schedule of a building must be altered at irregular time intervals for security-technical considerations. Here, the invention intends to provide a remedy.